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Milagu Kuzhambu - Pepper Kuzhambu, is one of the common dish in South India. In our home, we make this when ever anyone of us suffer from cold or sore throat. I have made this kuzhambu in little thicker consistency as I am planning to store it for 2 to 3 days. If you prefer watery consistency, you can add more water. You can store this kuzhambu even for a week if refrigerated. I have added few dry red chilies along with other spices, but you can reduce the number of chilies and add more pepper corns.

Ragi Semiya, this is an simple, easy and healthy recipe for breakfast. None of us in our home are big fan of upma varieties. Since we hear millets are very good for health, we started buying ragi semiya often these days. At first, we used to just eat it with sugar and coconut. But now a days I started preparing it like semiya/upma and to my surprise everyone at our home liked it! The preparation is just the same as we do regular upma/semiya but the main part lies in how the ragi semiya is cooked. If it is not cooked in a right consistency then the dish will be a real mess. Lets move on to the recipe...

Oyster Mushroom Stir Fry - Sippi Kaalan Poriyal, this is an simple and easy dish that can be prepared in less that half an hour. I love oyster mushroom when compared to the button mushroom. But oyster mushrooms are not easily available in my nearby stores, so I make it once in a while when I get it. Though I make very few varieties using this mushroom, I feel this mushrooms tastes better than button mushrooms. When you buy oyster mushroom next time, don't forget to try this recipe ;)

2. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the ural dal and fry for few seconds. Add the sliced onion and saute for a minute. Add the green chilies and curry leaves.

3. Saute the onions and green chilies till the onion turn transparent. Add the mushrooms and saute for a minute.

4. Add turmeric powder, chicken masala powder and salt. Mix well. Need not add water while cooking. The water released from mushroom is enough for it to cook. Cook on medium flame for about 10 15 minutes. Check whether the mushroom is cooked or not in between. Once the mushroom is well cooked, turn off the flame.

Oyster Mushroom Stir Fry is ready to serve. This can be served as an accompaniment for rice or as a side dish for chapati / roti.

Sweet Pongal - Sakkarai Pongal, there are lot of ways in which we can make this sakkarai pongal, I have shared one among those recipes here. In this recipe I have added milk along with water while cooking the rice for making pongal. Also, I have added less quantity of moong dal for preparing this pongal. I usually add equal quantity of moong dal and rice while preparing sakkarai pongal. Here I have made a slight variation. I will try to post my regular sakkarai pongal recipe soon.

2. Add the roasted moong dal to rice and wash rice and moong dal together with water. Add the moong dal, rice, milk and 4 cups of water and pressure cook it for 6 whistles.

3. Once the rice and dal are cooked, let it sit in the pressure cooker till the pressure is completely released. In the meanwhile, add the jaggery to a pan and add a cup of water and make jaggery syrup. Just heat up till the jaggery melts. No specific consistency required.

4. Once the pressure is released. Take out the rice and dal from pressure cooker and mash it nicely using a masher or with a ladle.

5. Strain the jaggery syrup to remove any impurities present and add it to the mashed rice and dal. Mix it well.

6. Heat ghee in a tadka pan and add the cashew nuts. Fry them till golden brown color. Transfer it to a plate.

7. In the remaining ghee, add the raisins and fry till it fluff. Add the roasted cashew nuts and raisin along with the ghee to the pongal. Give it a nice mix.

How to Hard-Boil the Eggs and Cut them Neatly? In this post I have shared the method to hard boil the eggs without breaking and how to cut them neatly. Initially when I started cooking, if I boil eggs either it will break or it will be half boiled :( But slowly I learnt how to boil it without breaking. Also when we cut the eggs for making egg masala or gravy, it will not be smooth in the cutting line and the yolk will separate on cooking. So I have showed you how to cut it neat and nice.

How to Hard-Boil the Eggs and Cut them Neatly

2. Add Eggs in a pan and add water till the eggs are immersed. Sprinkle the rock salt over the eggs. Cook on low flame for first five minutes and allow it to cook on high flame for next 5 minutes. Switch off the flame.

3. Drain the water immediately and place the eggs in bowl containing plain water. Add few pieces of ice cubes to the plain water. Let this sit for about 10 minutes.

4. After 10 minutes, drain the water and take out the eggs. Remove the shell of the egg slowly. Thats it! Hard - Boiled Eggs are ready.

5. To Cut the eggs, take a clean thin thread and gently press the thread in the middle of the egg by holding both edges of the thread. You can cut the eggs neatly when you use a thread instead of a knife.

Chettinad Kara Chutney, this is a very popular chutney in Chettinad region. The authentic flavor and taste for this chutney comes from the shallots that are being used in this chutney. The same chutney can be done using onions too but tastes better with shallots. This Spicy chutney makes a very good combination with idli, dosa, uttapam etc... The same chutney can be made without using tomatoes but I like the tangy taste in it. So I have added tomatoes here. If you want a real hot chutney, avoid tomatoes and include more shallots.

Tandoori Aloo -While I was searching for some different recipe to make for the last weekend I came across a recipe on making tandoori masala powder at home. So I thought of making some dish using this tandoori masala. I saw some baby potatoes in my kitchen and decided to make tandoori aloo. But I did not make the tandoori masala separately instead I added all the ingredients mentioned for tandoori masala directly to the potatoes and pan fried it after marination. The end product was awesome! It tasted yummy. Here is what I tried...